All Scars – “Lunar Magus ” – [Dischord]

Thurston Hunger   10/4/2005   A Library, CD

Just add Amy Domingues! Folks who recall her work in “Telegraph Melts” will expect some searing cello and not be disappointed. Meanwhile two stalwart Scars, Jerry Busher and Chuck Bettis are still in the mix. Bettis trumpet is resonating in SpaceHeads style, and his vocals go from crumbling yokel to renegade prophet. Busher is less a basher than a cold slap of a drummer, and a cold slap is just what is needed for this high anxiety, and divinely disturbed release. Working in Washington DC, could only add to the paranoia that makes this release so compelling. I really think that the tension knotted up by adding Domingues takes a solid group to stellar status. The leadoff track almost gets you wrapt before musicus interruptus, at the center “Walpurgis Nacht” delivers a deceptive still point but as the tracks grow higher in number, so does the amount of complete shizothematic breaks in
each “song.” Sharp juxtapositions appear that work in an unconventiional manner. Each cut, each Scar as unique as a snowflake burnt on your ear.